by Zoe Perdita
The words set Caleb’s groin ablaze, and he swallowed the lump in his throat. If the werewolf aroused him with just pretty words, what could he do with his lips? Or his fingers? Or his cock?
“That’s it? You weren’t going to attack me like that bastard rogue wolf, or whatever he was.”
Peter’s eyes reflected the diner’s fluorescent lights. “Is that what you want me to do, boy? How readily would your body respond to my touch? I can hear your heart pounding like a drum. Your blood is rushing to that weapon between your thighs as I speak. Want me to do all those things you’ve only dared dream about? I can, if that’s what you desire.”
“What things?” Caleb asked and licked his lips. How did his mouth get so dry all of a sudden? His skin so hot?
The werewolf leaned forward, and his hand hovered inches above Caleb’s own. “I think you have a good enough imagination. What do you want?”
Everything, but he couldn’t say that! Not in a public place – a place he frequented! Plus, that didn’t solve the other, more pressing, issue. “I don’t – I need to know if other werewolves are coming here looking for me. What do I do about them?”
Peter smirked. “Oh, more will come, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop them. You’re just a human.”
Chapter 5
Caleb didn’t feel it – the sensation tugging at Wild’s heart whenever he looked at the other wolf. The pull that meant the two of them were meant to be together, live the rest of their lives as mates. But the man didn’t kick him out either. In fact, he didn’t even mention Wild’s outburst. Over the next week they went to work as if it never happened.
Carpentry was different than whittling. The tools, startlingly fast saws and other sharp implements, had so many safety rules Wild’s mind overflowed with information. Always wear goggles and gloves. Don’t run in the workroom. Don’t hurry the saw. Guide the wood; don’t force it.
He watched Caleb, his powerful arms hefting planks into place, the sweat beading on the man’s forehead, and his musky scent overwhelming the odor of cut wood. The saw bit through the planks, depositing them as smaller, workable pieces at the end. Wild gathered them into a pile and carried them to the workbench. From there Caleb taught him how to shape the wood into interlocking pieces and nail them together into tables and chairs. Then they carved designs into the wood – sometimes simple and sometimes intricate.
His voice was always gentle and patient, even when Wild made a mistake. Caleb never yelled or called him names, like Wild’s pack had, and the little wolf’s chest ached even sharper.
When the man stood next to him, glancing at the work the little wolf did, he nodded. “Good. That should fetch a hefty price due to the detail. You’re a natural, Whelp.” He raised his hand, like he was going to pat Wild on the shoulder, but balled it into a fist and turned away.
The little wolf glowered at the chair he carved and bit his tongue.
When a piece of furniture was complete, the big wolf taught him how to sand it and apply a stain and seal over the wood. The finished product nearly glowed in the yellow overhead lights, shining with hours of hard work – something Wild helped create. He hadn’t made anything in a very long time. And he never made anything so beautiful.
“Perfect. That completes the set,” Caleb said and wiped his brow with a handkerchief. He’d helped the big wolf with other projects, but this was the first time they’d completed anything together, from beginning to end. The oak dining set, four chairs and a sturdy table, shone with a warm brown glow in the sunlight falling through the woodshop’s windows.
The little wolf balled his hands into fists and shoved them in his pockets. “What happens now?”
“We take it into town. Come on. You’ll have to put on those shoes I gave you.”
Wild might’ve grown used to wearing clothes, even if they itched and weighed him down, but the shoes were another matter altogether. How did humans walk around in those things without tripping? They didn’t grip the ground like bare feet.
“Wait. You want me to come with you?”
Since he’d arrived, Caleb had gone to town exactly twice, but he never took the little wolf along. He usually came back with something, like shoes or clothes that actually fit Wild’s smaller frame, but he never asked the young man to come with him.
“Yes. You’ve got to get used to the human world, and I’m sick to all hell of hiding you in the woods. Plus, I could use your help at the hardware store. We’ve got to pick up a few things.”
Wild swallowed and nodded, trying to ignore the prickling discomfort seeping up his spine. He’d avoided people for so long, how was he supposed to get used to being around them again? With Caleb it was easy – the man knew he was really a wolf. But normal humans weren’t like that. They chased him with shotguns and set out traps to break his leg.
“Come along,” Caleb said, placing a large hand on Wild’s back and guiding him out of the workroom. “I’ll pull the truck around and load it while you get those shoes on.”
His skin sizzled under the man’s touch, and he squeezed his eyes shut and glanced up. The wolf’s chilly blue gaze met his, and Caleb pulled his hand back as if the little wolf were a snake ready to strike.
Wild glowered and spun on his heel. His heart slammed in his chest. Standing up to an alpha was never a good idea for an omega, but Caleb said he wasn’t an omega anymore.
“Why don’t you want to touch me?”
The man’s eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth. “I’m not going to discuss this right now. We have work to do.”
He took a step toward the larger wolf, every muscle in his body quivering with a mixture of fear and desire. “I don’t care. We worked all morning. We can talk for a few minutes. I – I want you to touch me. Can’t you feel it? Smell it? Are your senses dull or something?”
“My senses are fine. Trust me.”
Wild’s eyes flashed, and he did something he never thought he could. He leaned forward and pressed his body into Caleb’s. The man’s heart thundered in his chest – the beat like the steady pounding of a great drum. Up close, his scent engulfed the little wolf, drowning him in it. Why didn’t the man want him? Claim him? That’s what most wolves did in this situation, unless Caleb didn’t like something about him. But what was it?
“Wild–” the other wolf breathed, his mouth parted into the perfect position for a kiss.
The little wolf stood on his toes, and pressed his nose against Caleb’s strong neck. Squeezing his eyes shut against the stinging pain, he silently begged the other wolf to wrap his huge arms around Wild’s shoulders. To hold him. Kiss him – anything!
“Dammit all to hell and back. What do you think you’re doing?” the man asked, though his voice held only resignation.
“I want you.”
Large hands gripped Wild’s shoulders. “You don’t know what you want. That’s the problem.”
The little wolf scowled. “I do too. I want you. You’re my—”
Caleb laid a finger over his lips, effectively cutting him off. Then the man pressed his mouth against Wild’s forehead, the kiss so light it brushed his skin like the wings of a butterfly.
“We need to get going. Put those shoes on, please.”
The urge to run through the woods – to leave that place and never come back – crossed the little wolf’s mind as he marched toward the house. But Caleb was his mate, no matter how the man tried to deny it. Wild felt it in his bones, as surely as he felt the pull of the full moon. No wolf could deny the truth for long, even a changeling.
He grumbled as he pulled on the socks and tennis shoes, strangling his feet. He’d prove to Caleb they were meant to be together – he’d just have to figure out how.
The big wolf waited in the truck when Wild stepped out of the house. He even remembered to lock the door, though he wondered why anyone would come back into the woods to rob the man. Caleb didn’t seem to have anything worth stealing beside his freezer filled with meat, but humans were s
trange beasts, at times.
“Seatbelt,” the man said as Wild slipped into the truck next to him. Great. Something else to stifle him. He clicked it in place all the same.
They rumbled down the mountain in silence. Wild stared out the window as the comforting shade of the forest faded to farmland, the fields greener than when he last saw them. Flowers sprouted along the side of the road in great, colorful bunches, and the little wolf wondered, briefly, if Caleb liked such things.
Humans gave each other flowers to show their love, didn’t they?
The man turned toward the town then, and the trees stopped suddenly at the bottom of a long hill, the city spread out before them like a picnic. They rolled past colorful houses and little shops made of brick, and Wild wiped his palms on his pants, and tried not to see every person standing on the side of the street as an enemy – something to hide from in the woods.
“They’re not going to bite,” Caleb said peaceably as he pulled up to a red brick building.
“No. It could be the other way around,” Wild muttered, then clamped his mouth shut. The larger wolf might not like threats of that sort.
Caleb frowned. “Let’s hope you don’t. This area is already overrun with our kind. Do you want to come in or are you going to sulk in here?”
“I’m not sulking!” Wild spat and opened the car door and tried to climb out, but the stupid seatbelt held him in place. Once he untangled himself from it, he slipped out of the seat and leaned against the truck.
His leg still ached dully when he stood for too long, and he watched as Caleb hauled the set of chairs and the table from the back of his truck. Another man came out to help, and Wild crossed his arms, trying to stand up straight and not cower in front of the new human.
The man was wrinkled and looked about as old as Wild’s own gran before she passed. His name was Harold, and it seemed he bought a lot of Caleb’s furniture.
“This is Wild. He’s my apprentice,” the larger wolf said.
Wild held out his hand, and nodded stiffly as Harold grabbed it and raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Getting to be too much work for one man, I see. We’ve got a few more orders that came in. I’ll go get your check and the list.”
The little wolf wrinkled his nose. This is why he avoided cities – the smell. Everything was dirty with car exhaust and cement and asphalt, not like the clean scent of dirt and trees and other animals. Even with all that filth around, Caleb’s rousing fragrance still overpowered it.
Harold handed the other wolf a few pieces of paper when he came back, and they chatted about the weather for a moment before Caleb deemed it time to go. Wild huddled in the car next to him and slipped the seatbelt on, without being asked this time.
“Do you see this?” the man asked and handed Wild a little rectangular piece of paper.
“Yeah. It’s a check. My mom had them when I was little.”
The bigger wolf’s eyes softened. “Not that. The number – half of it is yours.”
Wild stared at the number sprawled on the check for a moment. “Half of nine hundred? That’s four hundred and fifty dollars. What am I supposed to do with the money?” he asked.
A smile pulled at the corner of Caleb’s mouth, and Wild’s heart leapt into his throat. At least that made the big wolf happy. “You could buy some food and supplies with it, if you don’t have any other plans.”
“I never needed money.” His old pack never even gave him an allowance, though his gran did on his birthday. The other wolves just took it before he could spend it. Why would a useless omega need it?
Caleb studied him for a moment, and let out a slow breath of air. “Yeah. I get as much as I can from the forest too, but some things require money. It’s your choice on what you want to do with it.”
The little wolf nodded and stared at the check. “Fine. Supplies and food, I guess.”
They headed back over the hills and to a different town than the one with the furniture store. Wild opened his mouth to ask why they didn’t go to a hardware store in that city, but closed it. Caleb knew what he was doing.
This time, the other wolf urged him inside under the guise of helping. Wild slunk in, tripping over his shoes as he glanced up and down the aisles of nails, bolts and other tools.
The man at the front greeted them, and Wild fought the urge to hunch behind Caleb for the second time that day. Wolves he could handle – humans were far more terrifying.
He caught the odor as they piled supplies into their basket – the scent of musk that didn’t belong to his mate – lighter than the heavy fragrance of American wolves. Wild’s hackles rose and he glanced up and down the aisle, a growl rising unbidden in his throat.
Caleb clamped a hand on the little wolf’s shoulder just as three men turned the corner. The tallest, with long black hair dangling over his shoulders, narrowed his eyes. A slightly shorter man stood to the left, his hair a shock of dirty blond, though his slightly crooked nose was similar to the tallest. The third man, who stood between them, had dull reddish brown hair, but he didn’t resemble the other two men in the least – although he was also a wolf.
“You,” the alpha spat and stepped in front of the other members of his pack.
“Eurasian. What do you want? Didn’t little Sam tell you I’m no longer a threat to your happy family?”
The wolf with auburn hair frowned, and Caleb stepped in front of Wild, his large frame blocking the little wolf. Was Caleb really trying to protect him? His stomach fluttered.
“We agreed not to bother you, but you’re harboring a rogue who stirred up trouble throughout our valley. That’s the runt?”
Wild peeked through Caleb’s powerful arms and glowered at the dark wolf. No one had called him a runt since he left his old pack – and he wasn’t that small anymore! He was barely shorter than that Eurasian alpha himself!
“I’m not a runt!” he grumbled and bared his teeth.
The dark wolf raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, but he didn’t take his eyes off Caleb’s.
“He’s under my care, and he’s not stirring up any trouble – not now.”
Then the wolf with dirty blond hair spoke up, a beta, by the look of him. “But he already caused a problem. Traps in our fields, white wolf. If that little outcast roused a hunter –”
“Then what? I seem to remember things going my way the last time we wrestled,” Caleb said, his voice a low, resonant growl that sent a chill to the center of Wild’s chest.
The beta lunged toward Caleb, but the third wolf gripped his shoulder, the knuckles on his hand whitening. “Enough!”
Much to Wild’s surprise, the beta relaxed under the other wolf’s grip.
“Enjoying pack life, Sam?” Caleb asked, and his voice lost the air of anger it held with the other wolves.
Sam frowned. “Yeah, not that it’s your business to begin with. We probably shouldn’t have a fight in the middle of the damn store.”
The alpha clenched his jaw. “My brother is right. If a hunter is here, that omega is to blame, and we will have our reckoning.”
The alpha and beta turned and swept away. Sam sighed, opened his mouth like he wanted to say something more, but followed his pack mates instead.
Wild slipped back around the bigger wolf and frowned. For some reason, Caleb’s eyes softened just a bit when he looked at that mid-ranked wolf. The thought twisted Wild’s stomach into knots.
“That’s the valley pack?” he grumbled as they finished gathering the things they needed.
“Yeah. Those are the Eurasians.”
The little wolf’s hair stood on end at the alpha’s words. Did his chicken thieving really draw out a hunter? More importantly, what would Caleb do if it did? Turn him over and let him be killed?
“Do you think it’s really a hunter?” he asked.
Caleb’s lips pursed into a line. “Don't know yet.”
Wild frowned.
After they got home, the little wolf helped with dinner – cutting the meat from the bone and chopp
ing vegetables for their stew. Soon the scent of cooking filled the whole house, and Caleb nodded down the hall.
“Wash up. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
With a pout, the little wolf, once again, did as Caleb asked.
As he stepped into the shower, the hot water soaked into his skin, and he washed the day’s sweat and dirt from his flesh. Wild’s thoughts turned to the big wolf – the man’s icy eyes and his smooth lips and cheeks. The thick fringe of pale hair that covered his massive chest and the way his roughly calloused hands felt on Wild’s skin.
Soon, his cock pounded between his thighs and his fingers itched to touch it – stroke it until the release washed over him and set him free. He’d pretend Caleb was the one touching him – that his mate cared about him enough to pleasure him like that. But the façade never lasted long.
Slowly, the little wolf wrapped his fingers around the aching shaft and bit his lip. If the man heard his moans, what would he do? Probably ignore it.
A gentle tap startled Wild from his thoughts, and the door creaked open.
“You forgot a towel again,” Caleb said, his figure silhouetted against the clear shower curtain.
The little wolf’s heart slammed in his chest as he turned off the water and slid the curtain aside. He was finished anyway – and the man had already seen him naked.
“Are you going to take one now?” he asked and looked up at the other wolf.
Caleb’s pale eyes traveled down Wild’s toned chest to the erection pounding between his thighs. The pink tip of the man’s tongue flicked out, like he tasted the air, and he took a deep breath.
“Wild,” he said, his voice held the subtlest of warnings.
The little wolf didn’t heed it. He stepped out of the tub and stood dripping on the bathroom rug.
“I can scrub your back, just like you did for me,” he offered and his hands sparked with something akin to static electricity. Why wouldn’t Caleb touch him?
The man let out a long, slow breath, but he didn’t charge out of the room – didn’t run away like he had before.
